A Decade of Defunding Higher Education: History Behind University of Northern Iowa's Woes - Alison Gowans, Patch Cedar Falls

Iowa's funding for higher education has been shrinking for the past 12 years, a trend mirrored across the country. The University of Northern Iowa's current budget woes are part of a larger trend in the defunding of higher education. A report released March 8 shows, after accounting for inflation, that state funding for Iowa's public universities decreased nearly 40 percent between 2000 and 2011. Even before adjusting for inflation, the report says, all three of Iowa’s public universities received fewer dollars from the state's general fund in fiscal year 2012 than they had in any year since 1996.